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DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan's army, in the midst of a above new abhorrent adjoin Taliban militants, has addled deals to accumulate two powerful, anti-U.S. tribal chiefs from joining the battle adjoin the government, admiral said Monday.
The deals increase the affairs of an army victory adjoin Pakistan's enemy No. 1, but announce that the 3-day-old advance into the Taliban's strongholds in South Waziristan may accept beneath aftereffect than the U.S. wants on a spreading affront beyond the border in Afghanistan.
Under the terms agreed to about three weeks ago, Taliban renegades Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur will stay out of the accepted fight in parts of South Waziristan controlled by the Pakistani Taliban. They will additionally acquiesce the army to move through their own acreage unimpeded, giving the aggressive additional fronts from which to advance the Taliban.
In exchange, the army will affluence patrols and bombings in the acreage controlled by Nazir and Bahadur, two Pakistani intelligence admiral based in the arena told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because absolute their identities would accommodation their work.
An army spokesman described the deal as an "understanding" with the men that they would stay neutral. The agreements underscore Pakistan's past practice of targeting alone active groups that advance the government or its armament central Pakistan.
Western admiral say South Waziristan is additionally a above sanctuary and training ground for al-Qaida operatives. The mountain-studded arena has been under near-total active control for years and is advised a likely ambuscade place for Osama bin Laden.
The United States has responded cautiously to the antecedent Pakistani strategy, about welcoming the abhorrent but adage little about the specific best of targets.
"We accept a shared ambition here, and the shared ambition is angry violent extremism," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday.
Kelly said he was blind of an agreement to accumulate some active factions out of the fight for now, but other U.S. admiral said the strategy is not surprising or necessarily worrisome.
Because the band loyal to Taliban baton Hakimullah Mehsud poses the best absolute threat to the Pakistani government and army, it is the logical aboriginal target, U.S. admiral briefed on the abhorrent said.
While a broad abhorrent that takes on all comers at once might be ideal, it is not practical, U.S. aggressive admiral said. They batten on condition of anonymity because the United States has no absolute role in the operations of another country.
U.S. admiral are watching the abhorrent closely with the hope that the Pakistani army will not cull aback afterwards the antecedent onslaught, and will eventually widen the abhorrent to cover other active factions and the added forbidding ground of North Waziristan.
The army's abhorrent in South Waziristan is pitting some 30,000 troops adjoin 11,500 militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella grouping of the country's main active factions blamed for 80 percent of the attacks in this nuclear-armed nation over the last three years.
The Taliban accept claimed responsibility for a billow in strikes over the past two weeks that has dead added than 170 people. The attacks accept included a 22-hour siege of the army headquarters and a bombing of the U.N. architecture in the capital, Islamabad.
Pakistani security analysts said the army had little best but to c! ut deals with rival Taliban factions to accept a chance of success. The attack will likely be far tougher than in the Swat Valley, a northwest arena where government troops overpowered insurgents this year. The army has conducted three antecedent offensives in South Waziristan back 2004, all unsuccessful.
"If the army opens up multiple fronts, they will be deluged," said Khalid Aziz, a above top administrator in the northwest. "It's like accepting a patient adversity from multiple diseases - you tend to treat those that are life-threatening first."
The army is setting its sights on Hakimullah Mehsud, who became baton of the Pakistani Taliban afterwards its above chief, Baitullah Mehsud, was dead in a U.S. missile strike in August.
Bahadur's breadth of influence lies in North Waziristan aloof beyond the border from South Waziristan, abutting acreage controlled by the Pakistani Taliban. He and his followers appear from a different tribe than the Mehsuds, who make up the majority of the Pakistani Taliban. Nazir controls breadth in South Waziristan.
Both acquiesce their acreage to be used by fighters who cantankerous into Afghanistan and are loyal to the Mullah Omar, the head of the Afghan Taliban. Omar is believed to be living in Pakistan.
As the region's British colonial rulers did decades ago, the army is exploiting tribal rivalries to try to gain control in the region. Nazir is an old-time opponent of the Mehsud tribe, while Bahadur is reportedly angry over the appointment of Hakimullah as Taliban chief.
Being able to move unimpeded through their breadth gives the Pakistani army a massive boost in its accepted campaign.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said there was no agreement with the two men, but "there is an understanding with them that they will not baffle in this war."
He said the army "had to ta! lk to th e devil" to isolate its main target.
Asked whether the agreements were holding, he said: "Obviously, they are not coming to accomplishment or to help" the Pakistani Taliban.
The army said Monday that troops backed by aerial bombing were steadily advancing on three fronts into the arena and meeting annealed resistance in places. It said 78 militants and nine soldiers were dead over the last three days. Militants were not accessible for comment, but said Sunday they had the upper hand.
It is nearly absurd to verify apart what is going on in South Waziristan because the army is blocking admission to it and surrounding towns. There are no reporters traveling with the army, and few - if any - local journalists in the area.
Residents, some fleeing, appear fierce angry and said Pakistani armament were using arms and air attacks.
"There is lots of bombardment: on houses, on mosques, on Islamic boarding schools, on everything," said Fazlu Rehman as he accustomed in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, which lies abutting to South Waziristan.
As abounding as 150,000 civilians - possibly added - accept left South Waziristan in contempo months afterwards the army made clear it was planning an assault, with several thousand over the last few days. Authorities say that up to 200,000 bodies may flee in the coming weeks, but don't expect to accept to house them in camps because best accept relatives in the region.
In Dera Ismail Khan, government employees registered hundreds of bodies who lined up for cash handouts and other aid.
"The bearings in Waziristan is getting worse and worse every day," said Haji Sherzad Mehsud, one of the refugees.
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Associated Press writers Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Anne Gearan and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.
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